Disney's China Problem

Is the studio's push for diversity alienating audiences in the world's second biggest film market?

- SHANNON POWER

DISNEY'S HIGH HOPES FOR THE Little Mermaid in China were blown out of the water-pointing to much bigger problems for the company in future.

The live-action remake of the 1989 animated movie flopped in the country compared with other Western films, earning only around $3.7 million since opening on May 26. That's a paltry sum compared to its takings in the U.S. and worldwide, where it made $117 million and $413 million respectively on its opening weekend.

It highlights an urgent, growing problem for the under-pressure media titan. How can Disney tap into such a lucrative market, appealing to increasingly different Chinese values, while staying true to its push for greater diversity?

Many experts have blamed the racist backlash in China to casting Black singer Halle Bailey as the mermaid Ariel for the failure of The Little Mermaid, but this isn't the whole story. Others have pointed out that the popularity of Western films has been on the decline since the COVID pandemic, partly due to what some Chinese see as unfair criticism of their country over the origins of the virus.

This year, only one Western film has so far cracked the $100 million mark at the box office, Fast X, the latest installment in the Fast and the Furious franchise. It's a marked contrast from five years ago when 11 Hollywood films made over $100 million in China.

The lack of appetite for Western films is a challenge for all Hollywood studios but particularly for Disney, which is both pushing for diversity and has been rocked in the past year by a fall in earnings, mass layoffs and former CEO Bob Iger being brought back in to steady the ship. Disney did not respond to requests for comment.

Racism and Diversity

The Little Mermaid faced criticism from local Chinese media and social media users for casting Bailey instead of a white actress.